Merkel says she was too much a gossip to be in Stasi

IN a newspaper interview German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that she was once approached by the Stasi, the East German secret police, to work for them. She told them she was an inveterate gossip and unable to hold her tongue. The Stasi never called again.

Neverthelss, Merkel obtained a place at the Humboldt University in Berlin to study physics. Before that she was  a member of the FDJ, Freie Deutsche Jugend, where she held a leadership position. The FDJ was the youth brigade of the ruling SED.